Liveblog: Canadiens drop fifth in a row

The Canadiens ran into a red-hot goaltender who used to play for them and lost 2-1 to Mathieu Garon and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The team went 0-for-Florida, despite a TB lineup decimated by injuries and flu.

1,011 Comments

Team badly mismanaged, Time for upper management changes. What if the season ticket holders protested by not attending a game and instead showed there frustration by staying outside, or even done it for the first period to show owners. DO SOMETHING. Molson has to influenced, its the fans that keep hockey afloat.

right because Price is the reason we lost again…at some point folks are going to have to let it go. Goalkeeping is not the issue on this squad. Bad management? sure. Lackluster goal scoring abilities?: yes. Young inexperience defense corp? yep. Suspect coaching decision making? absolutely.

Not sure why the keeper gets all the heat in MTL…here in cow town about the only player not getting heat is Kiprusoff and the Flames are terrible. Similar situation too. Lay off the keeper!

Garon was amazing, he did steal the game for Tampa, and Price’s performance was ordinary. It was a 2-1 game and Garon’s goaltending was the difference.

But facts and the defence of Price have little to do with each other… and btw solo066 I’d genuinely like to know what makes you think Price gets all the heat in Montreal (as opposed to keepers in the past). On the contrary, most of what I see are weird rationalizations in his defence. E.g. his success at junior level or his all star appearances or his supposed potential are somehow supposed to compensate for his ho-hum record in the past few years.

If there happens to be a bidding war for Price I say let him go and take 5 first round picks. Try to reacquire Kari Ramo (the best goalie in the KHL) from the flames. No chance with the habs because orf Price. The 1st round picks are assets that could be dealt in a trade, we would save money on the cap , we could draft another prospect goalie and have some good draft picks

He will get that 7 million excess. He knows the Habs need him so he will ask for a bigger salary. Gauthier already stated yesterday that he let go of Kostitsyn so that they could put more money on Cap Space for Price and Subban. Not only those 2 but probably more.

I think you’re right, he’ll get in the 7 million range, when you look at some of the deals other goaltenders have signed it seems about right. Plus if we can give plekanec 5 Million for 6 years, we have to do a little better than that for Price. After 250 plus NHL games I think we know what we are getting with Price and I’m OK with that.

The Habs have been going through an existential crisis for some time now. The word identity comes into play.

Somebody earlier wrote about how Pollock said winning begets tradition not the other way around.

When Gainey took over the captaincy the Habs were still a very good regular season team. They were 3rd over-all for each year from 1979-80 through to 1981-82. They were not a very good play-off team though. This was also the era of the Habs starting to play boring hockey, in a sense mirroring its Selke winning captain. I know I am going to take a lot of flack for saying that. So let me placate those who would think me obtuse. Gainey is obviously one of the all time greats. He wrote the book on being a defensive forward. They created the Selke trophy because of him. If it hadn’t have been for Mario Lemieux the North Stars with him as coach would have won the Cup in ’91. As GM, he built the Stars to consecutive play-off berths winning one Cup. He’s a HOFer. He was also the epitome of the gentlemen warrior. I still would have rather have had Robinson as captain back then but when they announced Gainey I accepted as it was the team’s decision.

At any rate. He was the last captain of the Golden Era. Since he retired the room has been in disarray. Worse there has been interference from ownership which has resulted in division and squandering of resources in the name of either enforcing order or saving face.

I always valued Gainey’s role as a defensive forward but I still preferred the play of Jacques Lemaire. To me Lemaire was the quintessential two-way forward. He back checked but he also scored. You think DD is crafty? Lemaire was a master.

There is a point to all this. Identity.

I think the owners need to build the team with players but let the players forge the team’s identity, not try to impose one from above or from the past.

I will always believe that Gainey’s heart was in the right place. Sometimes I wonder if he let it get in the way of his better judgement. He did yeoman work as GM but I think it is time to truly pass the torch.

Was talking to a few Vancouver & Calgary fans about the Canadiens. They think that the only players worth keeping on this team are Price, Subban and maybe Pacioretti. Everyone else can be traded, released, sent to Hamilton, whatever. And than everyone laughed at Gomez & Kaberle, the owner who pays those two clowns, and the fans/suckers who dish out hundreds of dollars per game to support Molson paying those two clowns.

There was unamimous consensus that Mr. Pierre Gauthier is in tough with Scott Howson for the worst General Manager in the NHL.

I wonder what Carey Price would still fetch on the trade market. Didn’t the league nix a deal for him and Lacavalier? I forget the details and never mind Lacavalier the point is he had value that would have gotten a probable hall of famer in return. Is the hype around him, in spite of reality, still in play? He is a pretty good goalie, there’s no denying that, or allowing anything more. He’s probably top 20. Sure he can move the puck but I care about that about as much as I cared about how Dennis Martinez batted. His production could be replaced by at least 20 goalies in the league. If his value is still inflated I’d be shopping him. Sorry to change the subject but boy is Jaro Halak on fire. Top 5 in the league in GAA. Despite a slow start. Heating up for the playoffs. At least we will have someone to cheer for.

I’m just one guy. And just because you say it is so doesnt make then case closed. The way I see it, Halak is outperforming Price once again. And all I hear that counters that is “our defence sucks”. It doesn’t stack up. Gorges and Gill probably saved Price another 30 goals if you want to go with obscure notions. The FACT is, we got Lars Eller and Carey Price instead of Jaroslav Halak and god knows what, when the hysteria was in full spin.

Carey Price was worth a franchise player when the idiot-spin was at it’s peak. All I was wondering is whether there was anyone (outside of Habs fans) who still rates Price as a franchise player. If there is I’d call them up.

apparently it was a deal for Price, Plekanec, subban, paccorettiey, and kostitsyn? for vinny and a second rounder. this is according to some radio show host on NHL home ice on XM.
not my idea of a good trade

It’s hard to believe, but the Canadiens haven’t hit bottom yet. While they gave a fair effort, the Good Guys weren’t able to beat a Lightning lineup riddled with injuries and diluted with illness. They have now lost five straight, and their lineup has more holes than a Brad Marchand excuse.

Our lineup does little to impress or inspire fear in the opposition. In the third period, the Lightning’s one goal lead seemed safe as houses. While the Canadiens weren’t an offensive juggernaut under Jacques Martin, at the start of the season we could count on Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Andrei Kostitsyn among others to pot a goal when we needed it. Tonight, beyond the David Desharnais line, the only potential offensive threat for the Canadiens was Tomas Plekanec, who was saddled with unproductive wingers again. René Bourque came here with a reputation and history as a twenty-five goal scorer, but has been lethargic since his first three games with the team.

Lars Eller showed flashes again tonight, controlling the puck and skating effectively. With the season no longer in the balance, it is imperative that he get lots of icetime, both at even-strength and on special teams. To spell it out, this icetime should come from Scott Gomez’ allotment. We have a twenty-game training camp opportunity to play the heck out of our youngsters, and we shouldn’t waste it on players who no longer figure in our plans.

Blake Geoffrion also must get lots of minutes, let’s coach the heck out of him, and work on his skating that he needs to improve. At this point, we can’t miss on him, we’re devoid of NHL’ers in our organization. He must at least fill the role of a third-liner next year, since we’re not going to find that kind of help from Hamilton, and it would be beneficial to not have to rush one of our juniors or graduating college players into that role. We could always find help on the free agent market this summer, but we’re in salary cap jail right now and overspending on July 1 is what will keep us there.

Alexei Emelin was solid again tonight, and seems to be rounding out into a reliable top 4 defenceman, one we can put on next year’s roster in ink. He ran into trouble a little bit tonight when he tried to avenge an unpenalized hit from behind by Ryan Malone. Shortly after, Mr. Emelin caught up with him as Malone was waiting to enter without going offside. Alexei caught him with a good clean shoulder hit and dropped him on his ignorant backside, but unfortunately Ryan Malone wasn’t holding the puck and it was justly whistled as an interference penalty. Alexei served this penalty, but immediately after was jumped by Ryan Malone who wanted to settle accounts with his fists. He declined to fight, and the refs, stunningly, got the call right and gave Mr. Malone the instigator penalty and tossed him from the game. While Alexei has the right to not fight, and the NHL has to address this problem of clean bodychecks being responded to by an almost obligatory fight, he has to be responsible for his actions. He will have the colour of right whenever he hits hard but cleanly and fairly and then chooses to decline invitations to fight, but it will get more dicey and his teammates will endure the repercussions if he hits in a dirty or illegal manner. He must stay above the fray and play cleanly between the whistles to be most effective and productive. Tonight, his option would have been to wait until an opportunity presented itself to jack Mr. Malone legally, instead of taking the obvious interference penalty.

We saw Brad Staubitz fight, which will be his role for the rest of the season. Let’s hope that he fills it well and effectively, in that he may neutralize the more hotheaded of opponents or temper their enthusiasm. If we are going to play out the string, we should protect our best players and prevent the opposition from taking free runs at them. While I wish the NHL would own up to its responsibility as a corporate citizen and eliminate this nonsense from our game, we can’t afford to ignore our current reality or Chris Neil.

What I don’t understand is why did Pierre Gauthier, out of all available forwards to get at the deadline, he ended up taking Brad Staubitz out of the Minnesota Wild of which, he can’t even score and the only role he could do is to play the “goon” of this team?

For crying out loud! If Gauthier plans to get a rental player, it should’ve been like what he did last yr when he got Wiz to supplement Markov’s absence.

So I’ve gotten tired of watching the Habs stink it up, so I have been looking to the future. Beulieu, Tinordi, possibly Ellis… I like. I’m not too pumped about the forward prospects. I don’t think any can translate into top line forwards, but I honestly don’t know enough about how prospects transfer over to pros, so I may be way off the mark. I think the 3 Dmen I listed have legitimate chances at being top pairing Dmen.

Dietz seems like a darkhorse coming out of nowhere but I hope he really continues developing. The kid isn’t afraid to drop the gloves either.
Dietz was drafted in the 5th round last year, 63GP 14G 23A +10 in the WHL on a team on the bubble, and wears an A for his team. If you’re bored you can see some of his fights here http://www.habsfuture.com/search/label/Darren%20Dietz

But one thing that annoys me is how so many of the kids do these dangerous takedowns to end a fight, and why? they’re losing so they want to lay the hurt on or just give the illusion that they’ve won? That’s exactly how the kid died a few years back in the CHL… It amazes me that nobody teaches them.

Eller looked great on a few rushes and looks solid in the faceoff circle! Keep Eller as your third line centre. Package up Plekanec in the off-season for Kopitar! Kopitar, Desharnais, Eller, Geoffrion down the middle. Then sign Weber from Nashville, and voila, Stanley Cup!

He’s pretty responsible defensively. I’d like to see some more offense. If he can develop into a 40 point guy who plays well defensively, I like him as our 3 center. I wish he’d use his size a little more. Maybe he will eventually if we have a couple of guys in the lineup who help prevent the kids from feeling cowed. It’s starting to sink into Bob’s huge head and Pierre’s small one so there’s hope that this team might start to play with some confidence again.

Here’s my take on tonight and the season: It all starts from the top down. When the owner of the team doesn’t demand excellence then you get what you deserve. How PG still has a job is simply mind boggling. There is no accountability in this organization. Plain and simple.

“It’s a moo point. Like a cow’s opinion, it doesn’t matter. It’s moo.”

Gainey made us a yearly playoff team something this club was not prior to his taking over. He brought respect back to this joke of a team that it became. We missed the playoffs 4/5 yrs prior to Gainey taking over.

Glad to see Eller back at center. Yet someone in the organization needs to tell him he’s better than he plays. His instinct to use his teammates is admirable but he needs to be more selfish since he has superior individual skill which he should utilize for rushes and shots.

Conversely we have Bourque, who must think he’s Mike Bossy (or Mark Napier). He’s a million dollar body with a ten dollar brain. If he spent 3/10 of a second to read a play instead of firing away he might discover he has line-mates who may have the opportunity to score besides himself. Since this is beyond him I wonder what kind of center should be his foil. Not Plekanec. Perhaps some chip and charge type for a 3rd line who could compliment his me-shoot mentality.

For the new Habs, Mr. Geoffrion didn’t make much of an impression, but let’s see. Staubitz did – at least his yelling from the bench at Malone during the Emelin entanglement had my attention and reminded me of flashes of the antics of a certain Chris Nilan (and no, Staubitz is no Nilan, but Staubitz has jam which we need). His subsequent fight was also a good first impression.

Then there is a Mr. Kaberle. If you are a member of the tank brigade, he’s the gift that keeps on giving. He averages 3 to 5 bone-headed decisions a game. I wonder if he’s fully aware or otherwise cognizant. He must be the dumbest offensive d-man in Habs history. I’m not kidding.

God speed to Mr. Jean Beliveau. He was my papa’s hero. Mine was/is/always be The Flower.

Le gros Bill was my hero also. You’ll never find a classier gentleman in the game anywhere. Wish Habs still had one playing but again those type of people of very rare on this earth. Montreal was lucky to have him.

OK boys and girls! Now we’re being entertained by the “if we’re loosing lets not try to hard to get lucky and come back” factor, not that we could ever come back but at least the players can be satisfied with that thinking process. If you think we as fans are the only ones thinking of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd pick your kidding yourself.

Good loss helping our cause. Only team we should beat is toronto twice to seal their playoff hopes once and for all.

Too bad we canned Jacques Martin two weeks too late, Kirk Muller would have made a much better choice than RC. Maybe Guy Boucher gets fired (I doubt it) and we can sign him.

Next year if this team wants to win more find a shootout specialist i.e. Kotalik because we are like 2-10 on the SO, 4 or 5 pts could have easily been made there. Also get Price more practice he always gets beat.

A few comments about this meaningless game (that I somehow had to watch in its entirety):

Another painfully slow start offensively (I think about 2 SOG in the first 10 or 15 mins of the game).

Don’t get how Plex, Gomer and some others can look themselves in the mirror while Cole, DD, Emelin, White and Gorges are busting their a$$es virtually every shift. I know Plex is dynamic at times but I am just not sold–even during better times. At least 8 – 10 soft plays in both zones to avoid contact. That is a huge part of his abysmal +/- stats.

And Gomez is almost unreal. He lost every single battle on the boards tonight in addition to coughing up the puck on the PP with no pressure on him. Enough already–the scouts went home for good yesterday. Any hope of a pyschotic GM making a play for him is now gone forever. He never needs to suit up in the NHL again.

The only solace to be gained from from half the team refusing to show up is it strangely bodes well for the future. Otherwise, it’s really hard to stomach.

Malone is a grade A a-hole but we already knew that. The refs finally got one right and shipped el thugo out of the game. The homer TB announcers were carrying on but if the NHL enforced the rules even a bit better, Malone and his compatriots on the Broons would be forced to clean up their act.

Price was good but Garon was better. That’s happened a lot this year sadly.

The “mini dynasties” (for lack of a better term to describe a team that had serious sucess over approx. 5 seasons) over the past 20 seasons include Pittsburgh, Dallas, Detroit, Colorado, and New Jersey IMO. They all have distinct similarities ( the exception being NJ) in having great goal-tending, two great defense-men, and two great centers.

A “Five Man Core” is needed to succeed annually. IMO the Habs have great potential because when healthy they possess four pieces of the “Five Man Core” in Price, Subban, Markov, and Plekanec. Of course there are some mixed feelings on Price and Subban’s maturity and Markov’s health. The main missing piece is (as many people have repeatedly stated) a true “number one center.” The toughest position to fill, Superstar Center.

Any manager of this team must make it their mission to relentlessly pursue any available “Number One Center” at any cost that does not include Markov, Subban, Price, and Pleks.

“Any manager of this team must make it their mission to relentlessly pursue any available “Number One Center” at any cost that does not include Markov, Subban, Price, and Pleks.”

That’s great in theory but if I had a #1 center there’s no way I trade him nothing.. The team lacks the required players to make a deal.

Hypothetically, Ryan Getzlaf’s contract is up at the end of next year, what would we give to get him in the off season? I think the framework has to be similar to the Mike Richards deal or Jeff Carter deals which were a top prospect, 1st rd pick and another pick. Who would be the prospect that’s equivalent to Brayden Schenn, Voracek, Simmonds, Jack Johnson etc.

He’s got 8 goals this year and 1 pt more than Pleks playing with guys like Perry, Ryan & Selanne. I don’t think he’ll do better playing with musical chairs on the wings and no proven consistent 30 goal+ wingers like he has on Anaheim.

IMO a slow rebuild is the best option then give up the future to bring in the final pieces of the puzzle in 3 or 4 seasons from now. A true #1 center will not win us the cup yet. Hopefully we can draft or scout some dynamic players with all the picks we’ve grabbed.

Getzlaf is having an off year. Personally I would trade a package that includes any of Patch, Eller, DD, Emelin, Cole, Bourque, Gionta, ANY prospect or pick if it brought back a Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Sedin, Datsyuk, Staal, Getzlaf. Of course not all of them for one guy.. but any of the players listed can be more easily replaced with a UFA.

Also, patiently wait until a high end center becomes UFA and overpay for them. A number one center is a position that a team can afford to overpay for.

Also, I’m not saying the team is a “true number one center away from winning a cup.” But they def need one to contend for the cup, on an annual basis.

I agree with you we need an elite center to contend, but if this team is hopefully rebuilding via the draft. Next few years will be 8th place finishes at best, we don’t need one yet unless we draft one because who are we going to surround an elite center with?

We got good wingers but nobody on a Getzlaf, Crosby, Malkin etc level. That’s why I say we should get some high draft picks the next two or 3 years let them develop and then bring in the final piece to the puzzle if we haven’t already drafted him.

Sort of like Rick Nash in CLB, he is an elite winger but he has nobody even close to his level to play with. CLB tried with Filatov, Zherdev etc but it never stuck . Brassard isn’t elite either. We’d be in a similar situation with an elite center right now, he’s good but he’s the main guy to defend as well. I think that’s why the teams you mentioned succeeded they always had a line 2 in case line 1 got shut down.

Though if any of those guys were available I would also deal anybody on your list in a heartbeat, any 3 actually, except for Datsyuk, he’s 33 this team won’t be good until he’s 36 or 37, doubt he’ll be a top center then.

I hate to be the one to say it but we are just about toast for this season. But there are a lot of things to build on. Another stellar game for Price. I wasn’t watching the 3 stars but I bet he put another hole on his Molson belt. And it brings his save percentage down, he make crack the top 20 yet. Just gotta build around our superstars, him and P.K.

RC is to coaching as RC Cola is to soft drinks. A hopeless also ran.
That was just about the worst effort I’ve seen this season. Can’t blame AK for this one, eh? He was helping the Canes tonight.
Loved Emelin’s open ice knock-the-snot-out-of-him hit on Malone. Sure, it cost 2 minutes, but it was worth watching the Malone meltdown directly after the penalty was served.
I’d like PK and Emelin to be paired together for a spell just to see the opposition forwards’ heads on swivels, wondering where the pain will come from.
Another nail in the coffin for the 2012 season. Sigh.

Well at least AK wasn’t the cause of our loss 2nite ?
He contributed with a penalty for his new team though, a hook in the offensive zone that lead to a canes goal.

Emelin is too good !
Can’t believe he’s the only the only Russian on the team right now ?
No more AK there to help him out with guys like Malone ? kidding.
Would really like to see Markov play too some time before April.

I’m thinking Mr. Forsberg for the long run right now! That can’t be a bad thing at this stage can it ?

Some ugly blowout loses coming up in edmonton and vancouver…i just hope we dont catch the leafs as their sched is brutal…diaz and weber do not belong in the nhl as d…if they do than this league is about the same as the swiss league …both look so out of place on d that many times it is comical..

JM was a good coach. He matched lines like crazy and knew enough not to send out DD for a D-zone F/O with Campoli and Kaberle on D. He also knew enough to keep the team afloat with its AHL-caliber D. I think he must have been awfully angry at Gauthier for letting Hamr, Halpern and the Wiz walk. He didn’t ruin young players. Look at RC with Subban and Eller. Why Leblanc was sent down, I don’t know.

It’s funny (comedically) how we all seem to be in such good spirits after a loss, even to the point of worrying (hoping?) whether Edmonton, by virtue of their games in hand, might end up with more points than we will. Whether we realize it or not, we’re pretty much solidly on the tankwagon. It’s all good, we need to cope in our own way. Let’s just hope we get some good players out of it, and lose a few others, and our coach and GM while we’re at it.

Cunneyworth seems like a nice guy, but I think he’s more suited for asistan coach than Head coach. The team looks completely unmotivated. I really hope they don’t let Gauthier draft for us, especially if we have a top 3 pick. Hire a guy like Pierre Mcguire, or anyone along those lines.

CBJ will draft Yakupov, EDM Murray (since they have a surplus of forwards), leaving us with Grigorienko, the Malkin of the draft.

I am unsure why fans are so enamored by Pleks — he was a non-factor tonight, and has been many times this season. We only have one scoring line. We might as well get rid of Pleks to help generate a second scoring line, because this entire season Pleks hasn’t been an offensive threat (except on breakaways).

Toronto four points out now, and TB one point behind them, Habs now solidly in last place in the East, looking good for third pick overall and maybe second! HIO very funny tonight … all in all this was a decent game!

I been a hab fan for 38 years, and tonight watching all possible goals saved by a former hab, the truth of the matter is they were either shooting the puck to his stick , glove, pad, or post. The reality is the goalie didnt have to make any saves our players cant lift the puck 1 measly inch to score a goal, they suck they downright stink, they are no damn good and not even Scotty Bowman could make em win a game..Dear Molson please answer my prayers and FIRE BG, and PG…

How many times this season has Garon let in only 1 goal?,,,I bet I can count it on one hand!!….this is how offensively skilled our team is!!…frig, and all I can think about right now is Beliveau,,,I hope to god this isnt the last edition of his team he is around for

…but you can’t blame Cunny. He’s a good assistant. Only two dirt-bags to look at. PG and BG. Sure I’d feel safer walking down a dark ally with BG, but not in the pres. box with him. This team has been relegated to the dung heap and with maybe six keepers, it’ll be a solid half decade before we threaten anyone. Kaberle, Campoli, Weiner-boy, Diaz all to go. Only a few goal scorers that don’t support our goalie. Very depressing.

Promote the Youth, Support From The Veterans and Remember the Heritage!

They had to be told to take a dive for the draft pick. If this is how they realy are we are in for years of suffering. This is the worst Montreal team I have ever seen. Disgrace doesn’t come close to discribing this team.